ALCARAZ UPSET BY NO. 135 IN THE WORLD
Carlos Alcaraz didn’t see this one coming. How could he have?
About to reclaim the No. 1 ranking, Alcaraz was pretty much pushed off the court at the Italian Open by 135th-ranked Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the third round on Monday in Rome.
Alcaraz suffered his earliest defeat since October.
He’d won 30 of 32 matches this year and was on a 12-match winning streak on clay after consecutive titles in Barcelona and Madrid. He se- cured a return to the top spot next week by winning his opening match in Rome. But he was caught off guard by how Marozsan dictated with spectacular play all over the court, including drop shots that Alcaraz had no answer for.
“I just didn’t feel comfortable. He made me feel uncomfortable on court,” Alcaraz said. “He was aggressive all the time. He was playing inside the baseline all the time. It was tough for me to get into the match, into the rally. I made a lot of mistakes that I usually don’t make too much.”
The result means Alcaraz will go into the French Open — which starts in less than two weeks and where he will be the top seed — coming off a dispiriting defeat.
Making matters even more surprising was that this is the first time Marozsan is playing in the main draw of an ATP tournament.
“He surprise(d) me a lot. His level was really, really high,” Alcaraz said. “I’m sure he’s going to break the top 100 very, very soon.”
Marozsan posted his first victories over top-100 players in the first two rounds when he beat No. 67 Corentin Moutet and 32nd-seeded Jiri Lehecka.
“Everything was perfect today: The crowd, the weather, the court,” Marozsan said after stunning the packed stadium on Campo Centrale.
“I just try to do something special or winning a few games or maybe a set or something like this, and I just beat the world No. 1 — he’s our best in the sport.”
Soccer
Liverpool plunged Leicester closer to relegation and kept alive its own chances of finishing in the top four of the English Premier League with a 3-0 win.
Curtis Jones was the unlikely scorer of the first two goals before Trent Alexander-Arnold whipped an indirect free kick into the top corner to wrap up a mismatch at King Power Stadium between teams heading in opposite directions.
For Liverpool, a seventh straight victory in an impressive end-of-season rally secured at least a spot in the Europa League and moved the fifthplaced team a point behind both Newcastle and Manchester
United in the race for the final two Champions League qualification positions, behind Manchester City and Arsenal.
The lead investigator of Brazil’s sprawling match-fixing scandal said he has uncovered potential evidence of wrongdoing by players in other countries, and he hopes foreign authorities will use his team’s findings to start probes of their own.
Goias state District Attorney Fernando Cesconetto said in interviews with The Associated Press between Saturday and Monday that the case of Colorado Rapids midfielder Max Alves, who was reportedly named in the probe, could be prosecuted in the United States.
Nearly 80,000 people took to the streets of Barcelona to celebrate the club’s Spanish league titles for the men’s and women’s squads. Barcelona’s men clinched their first league title since 2019 on Sunday. The women had already secured their title a couple of weeks ago.
Striker Robert Lewandowski, who scored twice in Sunday’s win at Espanyol, showed some of his dance moves on top of the bus during the parade that lasted about three hours.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” defender Ronald Araujo said. “I hope to enjoy many more experiences like this.”
Barcelona secured its 27th league title, and first after the departure of Lionel Messi in 2021, with four rounds still to be played.
Barcelona’s women’s team won its eighth league title, also with four games to spare.
College football
Kansas State signed football coach Chris Klieman to a new eight-year contract that will pay an average of $5.5 million annually and could keep him tied to the defending Big 12 champion Wildcats through the 2030 season.
The $44 million deal replaces a contract due to end after the 2026 season that paid Klieman an average of $4 million annually.
Also
Unseeded Kathleen Lacey of San Diego eliminated fifthseeded Maria O’Connor of San Juan Capistrano 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the second round of the 50-and-over singles division at the USTA National Women’s Senior Hard Court Championships. Today’s second-round matches at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club will begin at 8 a.m. The national tennis tournament continues through Sunday.
The United States had to fight hard to overcome Germany 3-2 for a third victory in three games at the ice hockey world championship. Canada had to dig even deeper to prevail against Slovakia 2-1 in a shootout. Matt Coronatto scored the winner on a power play with 5:10 to go to complete the rally in the final period after tied the score at 2-2 in the same frame.